HILLSDALE — With two months left of winter, Hillsdale County Road Commission Engineer-Manager Stanley Clingerman reported during Thursday mornings, road commission meeting that the commission is projected to be under budget this winter.

“We are about at the same point we were last winter,” he said. “With hopefully only February and March to go, we should end up under budget. Winter is going well budget-wise.”

For the months of November through January the commission has spent $401,019 on county and state roads. During the same time frame the commission has ordered 2,900 tons of salt. The $401,019 is 38 percent of the budget for the year.

During the same three-month span last year the commission spent $412,066 and bought 3,450 tons of salt.

Clingerman said the lack of snow and ice has helped keep costs down.

Clingerman went on to inform commission board members that he was going to look at partnering with Lenawee County Road Commission for purchasing salt in bulk next winter. Lenawee currently partners with Branch County. Hillsdale County Road Commission is currently paying $51.21 per ton. Lenawee County pays $39.01 per ton and Branch $43.75.

Clingerman said he is hoping by partnering with them Hillsdale County can get it at a cheaper rate.

Members of the road commission agreed with Clingerman.

During the meeting the board also approved the 2013 cash budget for the road commission of $549,559.26.

Preliminary 2012 year-end financial figures were presented during the meeting. The 2012 budget was $6.7 million and the preliminary numbers show the commission spending $6.2 million. Coming in under budget would give the commission a $168,000 surplus.

Clingerman said coming in under budget was attributed to the lack of projects which done in 2012.

“The construction on primary roads is embarrassing,” he said. “We didn’t do any reconstruction because we didn’t have any money.”

The commission only spent $15,000 on primary road reconstruction. It spent $1.4 million on primary road maintenance.

The board also approved Clingerman to take bids for three new one-ton-dump trucks for the county, which was included in this year’s budget at a cost of $28,000 per truck.

Local bids will be taken and compared to the price the commission can purchase the trucks for through MiDeal.

Commission member William Watkins suggested they might also want to look to see if there are any slightly used vehicles around the area for sale, trucks that are one to two years old with low miles.